KENYA: Prominent human rights activist found dead 6 days after she went missing

Six days after she went missing in Dandora, a poor neighbourhood in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi where she lived, local police have found the lifeless body of prominent activist Caroline Mwatha.

According to Kenya’s Directorate of Criminal Investigations (CID), Mwatha who championed the fight against police brutality and extrajudicial killings in her country died during an attempted termination of her five-month-old pregnancy.

The CID said six people have been arrested in connection with the death of Mwatha who campaigned against abusive treatment of people in police custody in the East African country.

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In a statement, the CID said it began an inquiry two days after she went missing, finding that Mwatha had been engaged in communications “relating to an intended abortion of a five-month-old pregnancy.”

“Investigators believe that Caroline died in the clinic and the body was transferred to the Nairobi city mortuary,” the statement said, adding that those who took the body to the morgue gave a false name for the deceased.

The CID statement did not elaborate on why the six were arrested, but said the group included the owner of the clinic where the abortion was carried out, her son, a doctor involved in the procedure, and a taxi driver.

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